2025 #TCTheater Favorites - It Was a Great Year (in theater anyway)

Cherry and Spoon

2025 was in many ways a terrible year, with increasing violence, wars, division, bullying, and the dismantling of our democracy. But in difficult times, I always look to the artists - to hold up a mirror to our society, to show us a way out of the dark times, to create empathy and conversation, or to distract us from the harsh reality of the world with some joyful entertainment. Our #TCTheater artists really stepped up to the task this year on all fronts. From The Mystery Cafe's* high school reunion themed comedy/ improv/ mystery immersive dinner show Alma Mater in early January, to my longtime favorite a capella group Tonic Solfa's annual (and final?) New Year's concert at the Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud, I saw 256 live performances this year. That's slightly more than last year, and right up there with my pre-pan highs. In fact, I think this year, and this fall in particular, was the busiest season in #TCTheater since a global pandemic shuttered all live performance venues for some 16 months. It's good to be back, and a theater season that's so busy even I can't see everything is a great problem to have. Of the 256 shows, 242 were here in Minnesota, including 39 Minnesota Fringe Festival shows and 6 Twin Cities Horror Festival shows, as well as a half dozen or so non-theater concerts that I did not write about (because I decided I needed more live music in my life). I also saw shows in our neighbor state of Wisconsin, and of course in the greatest city of the world NYC, and even one concert of Mozart and Strauss in Vienna, where the famous composers (and original rock stars) lived and worked. Yes, it was a fantastic year of theater, music, dance, comedy, and more. The good work continues in 2026, and it can't help but make the real world better.

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I crossed the border into Wisconsin a few times in 2025, including my first visit to St. Croix Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, just across the river from Taylors Falls, where I saw Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt 2B, the Kate Hamill reimagining of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with a female Holmes and Watson, and the lovely rarely done musical Ordinary Days. And I made my 3rd visit to the magical theater oasis in the middle of the Wisconsin woods known as American Players Theatre with my friends from Minnesota Theater Love and Ernest Goes to the Theatre. We saw six shows in three days, four of them in the most beautiful outdoor amphitheater, from classics to new plays. Featuring an incredibly talented company of actors, each performing in multiple shows (including some familiar faces from #TCTheater), top directors and designers from around the country, gorgeous costumes and sets that takes into account the beautiful outdoor setting and the repertory nature, and a darling small town setting, APT is the best theater vacay in the Midwest, that I plan to take every year.

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